MSNBC reports that the lack of temperature rise in the last 12 years has convinced environmentalist James Lovelock ( The Gaia Hypothesis) that the climate alarmism wasn’t warranted.
From his Wikipedia entry: Writing in the British newspaper The Independent in January 2006, Lovelock argues that, as a result of global warming, “billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable” by the end of the 21st century.
He has been quoted in The Guardian that 80% of humans will perish by 2100 AD, and this climate change will last 100,000 years. According to James Lovelock, by 2040, the world population of more than six billion will have been culled by floods, drought and famine. Indeed “[t]he people of Southern Europe, as well as South-East Asia, will be fighting their way into countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain”.
What he has said to MSNBC is a major climb down. MSNBC reports in this story:
James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.
Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
He previously painted some of the direst visions of the effects of climate change. In 2006, in an article in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he wrote that “before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.”
However, the professor admitted in a telephone interview with msnbc.com that he now thinks he had been “extrapolating too far”…
…
“The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened,” Lovelock said.
…
“The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that.”
This won’t sit well with many. McKibben has a whole movement based on alarm for example. Watch the true believers now trash him in the “doddering old man” style we’ve seen before.
hat tip to Steve Milloy at junkscience.com
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Lovelock is now a ‘Climate Denier’ / SARC
This is a PR blow for the sceptics.
Icarus62 says:
April 23, 2012 at 10:16 am
‘Unfortunately the evidence from sea level rise, global ocean heat content, ice melt and global temperature series all show that there has been no decline in the rate of anthropogenic global warming, so this story seems to be rather premature. Also, greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere faster than ever, so there is no reason to be complacent.’
You need to keep away from those mushrooms mate.
mkelly says:
April 23, 2012 at 10:37 am
Icarus62 says:
April 23, 2012 at 10:16 am
Shirley you jest.
—————————————————————————————————–
No he is not “jesting” and please don’t call him Shirley. Couldn’t resist 😉
Any reaction on this from the chicken-little crowd yet?
Lovelock began his climbdown a bit at a time. Even before today.
[My bolding]
I’m not sure I’d consider Lovelock an heretic. He’s of much greater weight than that. He was more like the Prophet of the whole scam.
I’d more draw a parallel to the Japanese situation after WWII when Hirohito announced that the Imperial family maintained great affection for the Japanese people but that the Emperor was “not” divine. In other words they had just fought a bloody war for a lie.
Lovelock is one self-serving ***. He’s been talking out of both sides of his mouth for so long. I for one have little sympathy for someone who has so badly misled people for so long.
It appears Mr. Lovelock, at 92, has realized his mortality and is trying to make amends for the damage he has wrought before he dies. Sorry Lovelock, it’s too late for atonement. The misery and waste you and your ilk have caused in the name of “global warming” should ensure you a special place down below.
“80% of humans will perish by 2100 AD”
I would say that’s an underestimate. Most humans don’t live to be 88.
Monty says:
April 23, 2012 at 11:12 am
“Well, Dr. Lovelock isn’t a climate scientist and I (and most other climate scientists I guess) didn’t really take much notice of his views when they were rather alarmist. I don’t take that much notice of his pronouncements now. By the way, 12 years is too short to identify a climate trend.”
Monty,
Not being a climate scientist might be the best one could say of him, however, any type of “scientist” should recognize poor data, poorer statistical work and political agenda when he sees it and this guy did not and still does not as you note in your “twelve year” comment. Probably just another case of rats fleeing a sinking ship.
Well done to James Lovelock,
I personally have a lot of respect for someone who looks at the data and changes there mind. He is to be applauded for admitting that he thinks he’s got it wrong.
My response to James Lovelock is:
I haven’t been listening to you because it has been clear for a decade that you are full of cr@p.
Now that he is old, about to die in shame, he is trying to scrape together a pathetic semblance of dignity in service to his ego and at the expense of his progeny …..the greens. yeah…. stick it to your offspring you self-centered liar and snake oil salesman!
I have no time for crack-pot priests like Lovelock, His freaky language and schizophrenic connections of religion, science, and terraphilia was a give away from the get go. He should be ostracized for the jerk that he is.
Crawl under a rock you old fool.
‘Tom Moriarty says:
April 23, 2012 at 12:31 pm
….
Congratulations James Lovelock. It is never too late. It is better to be mistaken and honest than just mistaken.’
Hear, hear.
– – – – – –
Monty,
You are distancing yourself from the well documented alarmism of the IPCC?
It looks like you are and that is just as important as Lovelock’s distancing himself from the alarmism of the IPCC. I sincerely congratulate you on a big step into a more rational existence.
Does it feel good to get out of that closet?
John
I admired him for his invention of devices for measuring minute traces of chemicals, even his original hypothesis that the world behaved as though it were an organism, Gaia for short, made sense. Unfortunately was soon blinded by the fawning fakery of the eco-loonies. Too late to fix the damage. Kudos for admitting an error publicly, but I detect we’ve simply gone from a complete fruitcake to just a fruit-scented cake.
Even though for years he was an ardent climate alarmist I never gave up on Lovelock. When you hear him speak you can tell that he’s compelled by the data.
He’s still an alarmist today but he’s seeing the light. Just as many of us who read this bog regularly were climate alarmists at one time. None of us switched our climate opinion easily, it took a bit of time before we realized we weren’t alarmists anymore.
@Jimbo says: April 23, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Non-sarcastically, I am waiting to hear the alarmist say that seriously. I did not have long to wait.
For the amount of damage created by this one doddering olde fool there should be pillories, stocks or tar and feathering. Now he says…oops… maybe I was wrong about the whole human extinction thing….after TRILLIONS of dollars spent, and the entire field of science and education being corrupted…. oops he says…..
I admire a man who can admit a mistake (alarmism) but I would admire it more if he could make the final step and admit he was and is, wrong (regarding AGW).
c’mon Icarus62, take a look at the video of the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level data here…
http://climatesanity.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/updated-psmsl-sea-level-video/
then come back and tell us about the accelerating sea level rise rate
“Unfortunately the evidence from sea level rise, global ocean heat content, ice melt and global temperature series all show that there has been no decline in the rate of anthropogenic global warming,”
Trolling? OK I’ll bite, Ice levels globally are currently greater than the 1979 – 2000 average. The Arctic sea ice is currently very very close to the 1979 – 2000 average and the Antarctic ice is greater than the 1979 – 2000 average. (source: NSIDC) ENSO is still in negative territory, (Source:NOAA) Sea levels are not currently rising (source: University of Colorado) Temperatures have not increased significantly in 15 years according to all the main global average temperature records….
I would suggest that you educate yourself by looking up the latest data from official sources. Either that or just keep trolling.
Pointman says: @ur momisugly April 23, 2012 at 11:23 am
….In passing, a shameless plug, because it’s becoming increasingly obvious to me that there’s a health issue and a real eco disaster in train that ordinary people simply aren’t aware of.
http://thepointman.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/theres-a-killer-in-your-house-2/
_________________________________________
You are correct. The Darn things remind me of Dupont and the Freon patent only much much worse.
The DuPont patent for Freon (“Process for Fluorinating Halohydrocarbons”, U.S. Patent #3258500) was set to expire in 1979.
Check you ‘facts’ again and provide references.
The problem with Lovelock is that the Gaia hypothesis is a load of tosh. It is an attempt in a post-Enlightenment, post-Christian world to explain how the Universe works. It is just religion for atheists.
The Earth is not some self-sustaining organism ( there was an episode of Blakes 7 in the 1970s where they had a planet-sized organism ). It wobbles on its axis, something changes; it passses through a galactic gas cloud, something changes; the sun wakesup/goes to sleep, something changes.
Although Heaven rejoices for one sinner that repenteth etc etc I’m afraid that the old boy has been wrong for so long , this recantation has come a bit late.
p.s. I really DON’T LIKE the new wordpress comments box. Reckon it might be time to take a leaf out of so many Blogspot customers and create yopur own site,Anthony.
I was invited to comment here (before the heavy hand of censorship fell). Hopefully that wasn’t because I was expected to defend Lovelock.
Lovelock went emeritus a while back (2010, it would appear). But even back in 2006 he was fairly wacky. He isn’t a source for useful information on GW, and hasn’t been for, oooh, ages.
OK, having said that, lets try reading wot you wote:
> James Lovelock… has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change
Sounds entirely correct. As I said in 2006, see just above. You lot should listen to me, y’know? Or you could listen to James Annan instead.
> Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared.
Oh dear, not another one. He had nothing to say last time round.
This was coming:
By Roger Highfield, Telegraph 19 Mar 2009
extracts from Charles Clover’s account of a Royal Society meeting, New York Times, 14 March 2010